What a trades website should cost in Nova Scotia (2026)
In Nova Scotia in 2026, a trades website usually costs one of two ways: a one-time build of $1,500 to $10,000+ from a freelancer or agency, plus ongoing hosting and upkeep; or a monthly plan of roughly $99 to $399 that bundles the build, hosting, and maintenance with no upfront cost.
What you should actually pay depends on one thing: whether the site just looks good, or whether it captures leads and books jobs.
Most trades owners we talk to in Halifax and across Nova Scotia have heard wildly different numbers: a nephew who'll do it for $300, an agency quoting $12,000, a builder subscription at $40 a month. None of them are lying. They're selling different things. Here's how the real costs break down in 2026, and how to tell which one earns its keep.
The four ways to pay for a trades website
Almost every quote you'll get falls into one of these four buckets. The price gap is huge, so it helps to see them side by side.
| Option | Typical 2026 cost | Best for | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy |
$20–$50/mo | Owners with spare time and a simple story | Your hours, and templates that rarely capture leads |
| Freelancer | $1,500–$5,000 one-time |
A clean one-off build on a budget | Hosting & updates are on you afterward |
| Agency | $5,000–$25,000+ one-time |
Bigger brands and complex sites | Steep upfront cost before a single lead lands |
| Monthly plan build + host + maintain |
$99–$399/mo no upfront |
Trades that want leads, not a big bill | You're renting, not buying outright |
Ranges reflect typical 2026 pricing for small-business sites in Atlantic Canada. Your quote will vary with page count and features.
What actually drives the price
Two trades websites can be ten times apart in price and look similar at a glance. The cost lives in things you can't always see on the homepage:
- Page count. A single landing page is far cheaper than a 5-page site with separate service and service-area pages.
- Custom vs. template. A hand-built design costs more than dropping your logo into a stock theme, but it loads faster and ranks better.
- Lead capture. An instant quote tool, click-to-call, and a dashboard that collects every enquiry are what turn a brochure into a booking machine. This is the part cheap sites skip.
- Local SEO setup. Page titles, meta descriptions, headings, and image alt text tuned for "near me" searches in your town.
- Maintenance. Hosting, security, backups, and updates that keep the site fast and unbroken month after month.
The ongoing costs nobody mentions
The sticker price on a one-time build is rarely the whole story. After launch you're still on the hook for:
- Hosting: roughly $10–$50 a month, more if the site is heavy or busy.
- Domain name: about $20 a year.
- SSL certificate & security: sometimes bundled, sometimes an add-on.
- Updates & fixes: content changes, plugin updates, and the occasional "the contact form stopped working" emergency.
Skip the maintenance and you save money right up until the site slows down, breaks, or gets hacked, usually right when a customer is trying to reach you. A good monthly plan folds all of this into one predictable number so there are no surprises.
Spend on what turns a visitor into a booked job (fast load, instant quote, click-to-call, clear pricing) and skip the rest. A $5,000 brochure that just sits there is worse value than a focused, lead-capturing site at a fair monthly rate.
What we charge, and why
We built Alp Web Studio around the monthly model on purpose. Paying three to ten thousand dollars up front for a website is a tough call when you can't see the leads yet, so we'd rather build the site, get it earning, and charge a fair monthly rate instead.
- Landing: $99/month CAD. A single-page, hand-built site for trades. No upfront build cost.
- Business: $399/month CAD. A custom 1–5 page site with the built-in quote estimator and owner lead dashboard, plus hosting, SSL, security, monthly backups, uptime monitoring, and content updates. No upfront build cost.
- Custom: quoted per project. Portals or web apps, scoped together before any invoice.
Most sites go live in about two weeks, it's month-to-month, and you can cancel any time. After six months on a plan you can ask for the full site files at no charge. You can see the full breakdown on our pricing page or a couple of live examples we've built.
Not sure which option fits your trade?
Book a free 15-minute demo. We'll show you a live lead-capturing site and tell you straight whether it'll pay for itself.
Book a 15-minute demoCommon questions about website costs
Straight answers, no sales fog.
How much does a small business website cost in Nova Scotia?
Most Nova Scotia trades pay one of two ways: a one-time build from a freelancer or agency, commonly $1,500 to $10,000 or more, plus ongoing hosting and maintenance; or a monthly plan that bundles the build, hosting, and upkeep, commonly $99 to $399 a month with no upfront cost. The right number depends on how many pages you need and whether the site has to capture leads, not just look good.
Is it cheaper to build a trades website yourself?
On paper, yes. A DIY builder like Wix or Squarespace runs about $20 to $50 a month. The real cost is your time and lost leads. Most owners build a brochure that looks fine but never turns visitors into booked jobs, because do-it-yourself templates rarely include quote capture, fast load times, or proper local SEO.
What ongoing costs come with a website?
Even after a one-time build you still pay for hosting (roughly $10 to $50 a month), a domain (about $20 a year), an SSL certificate, and maintenance or content updates. Skipping maintenance is how sites break, slow down, or get hacked. A monthly plan folds all of that into one predictable fee.
Do trades businesses really need a custom website?
You need a site that earns its keep, which usually means custom enough to capture leads: an instant quote, click-to-call, and a clear path to book. A $5,000 brochure that just sits there is worse value than a focused lead-capturing site at a fair monthly rate. Spend on what turns visitors into jobs, not on decoration.